India must forgo its policy of aggression in IOK: Masood Khan

Azad Jamu Kashmir: Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Kashmir delivered a lecture as the guest speaker at AIR University Islamabad in connection to the Kashmir Solidarity Day. The lecture titled “Changing Global Scenario and Kashmir Dispute” was attended by Vice Chancellor AIR University Air Marshal (R) Faaiz Amir, founding VC AIR University AVM (R) Qazi Javed, senior faculty members and a large number of students of the University.

The President said that India has unleashed a reign of terror and oppression in Indian Occupied Kashmir. He said, Indian forces under the patronage of the central government at Delhi are torturing the local population in Indian Occupied Kashmir by mercilessly murdering peaceful Kashmiris, harassing the Hurriyat leadership, using lethal pellet guns, transforming the demography of Muslim populated areas, illegally incarcerating innocent protestors and dishonoring womenfolk.

The President said that Kashmiris have been made aliens in their own homeland and India has resorted to maliciously transforming the demography by forcefully evicting local Muslims and illegally settling non-Kashmiri pundits and ex-army personnel in Jammu and Kashmir. In 1947, over 247,000 Kashmiris were brutally massacred by the Dogra forces and RSS goons, all under the watchful eye of the central government, he said.

President AJK said that India has adopted the barbaric Ajit Doval doctrine of inflicting unbearable atrocities on the Kashmiris, excluding Kashmiris from the political dialogue and in turn avoiding any political dialogue with Pakistan for the resolution of this matter. He affirmed that India through its coercion, economic blandishments and political maneuvers will never succeed in winning the hearts and minds of the Kashmiri people nor will it be able to quash the freedom movement in IOK, said President Masood.

India is propagating a false narrative of terrorism in IOK, he said. The President while categorically denying any form of terrorism in IOK said, “The unarmed Kashmiris have been cordoned off. The only terrorism in IOK is the state terrorism of the Indian government which has deployed 700,000 armed personnel in IOK and have been given absolute immunity from prosecution under the Public Safety Act and Armed Forces Special Powers Act”.

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President Masood Khan said that the global scenario has seen massive transformations over the years. The US is cutting off ties with its allies, while Europe suffers from elements of xenophobia and Islamophobia. The Middle East, he said, is a target of civil wars and our Muslim countries are divided. In these circumstances, he said, we need to forge unity and consensus in resolving the core issue of Kashmir which has been pending for over 70 years by re-strategizing our approach.

The President on the occasion said that we need to take the issue back to the international community especially to forums like UNSC, UN Human Rights Commission and other such platforms. This effort, he said, must be taken up with renewed vigour, conviction, and consistency. He added by using modern means of communication, we must raise the profile of this issue and build inroads into the global civil society. Highlighting the importance of our strong Pak-Kashmiri diaspora community he said that we must also leverage their strengths in approaching the parliaments of powerful nations and help raise the voice of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters.

Pakistan has been the only sovereign window for the Kashmiris and an economically, politically and militarily strong Pakistan will guarantee effective propagation of the Kashmir issue at the international front. Pakistan has been made to pay for its inflexible and resilient stand on Kashmir, as Indian intelligence agencies are attempting to destabilize Pakistan and investing massive resources by directly sponsoring terrorist activities in various regions of our country and trying to create discontent by targeting our innocent civilians and Armed Forces across the LOC.

Talking about Azad Kashmir, the President said that the Azad State is the base camp for the freedom struggle. The AJK Government has adopted a three-pronged strategy which includes accelerating the freedom struggle and support for people of IOK; making the AJK government a model of good governance by upholding merit and rule of law, transparency, accountability and access to justice; and lastly, the economic and social uplift wherein focus is being given to developing road infrastructure, increasing energy production and setting up new industries, improving education and health standards, introducing modern agriculture and promoting tourism.